Apart from being incredibly amazing in their talents, Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt were once one of the biggest power couples in Hollywood. Despite all of this, to this date they have only been in two films together, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and By The Sea. However, there was a short period when the two could have been a part of one of the greatest action films ever.
The fourth installment to the Mad Max franchise, Mad Max: Fury Road saw Tom Hardy and Charlize Theron come together to play the lead characters. While the first three films had Mel Gibson play the role of Max Rockatansky, Tom Hardy replaced him in Fury Road. Had the stars aligned a bit differently, the role could have been played by none other than Brad Pitt, with Angelina Jolie by his side.
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie Could’ve Been in Mad Max: Fury Road
The creator of the Mad Max franchise, George Miller, was hell-bent on replacing Mel Gibson. The actor had been a part of the franchise since 1979. Therefore, it goes without saying that the filmmaker wanted someone younger to play the character of Max in the 2015 film.
While we all know that the replacement was Tom Hardy, Miller was seriously considering getting Brad Pitt for the role. An excerpt from Kyle Buchanan’s book, Blood, Sweat & Chrome: The Wild and True Story of Mad Max: Fury Road, highlights exactly this. According to the excerpt,
“George wanted to find somebody else – he was like, ‘Mel’s getting too old…He was interested in Brad Pitt and one point. And Angelina Jolie at one point!”
Brangelina in MAD MAX: FURY ROAD? Here's a little tease from my mammoth FURY ROAD book, out 2/22, which details how the film almost came together in 2001 with some *very* different stars considered: https://t.co/kR8BlGyd7D pic.twitter.com/zpKmYHXcAp
— Kyle Buchanan (@kylebuchanan) February 1, 2022
If Miller had gone ahead with this casting choice, it would have added another film to Pitt and Angelina Jolie’s combined filmography. However, he went with Hardy and Charlize Theron and it’s safe to say that they were the best option for the film. Fury Road was so well received by critics and audiences alike that it ended up getting nominated for 10 Academy Awards and taking home six of them.
Tom Hardy Apologizes to George Miller
The action movie was full of tension and no, we are not just talking about on-screen tension. On one hand, Hardy and Theron didn’t exactly have the best time on the sets, and on the hand, the actor had troubles with the director, too.
After all was done and dusted, Hardy realized that his frustration was wrong and publically apologized to Miller at the Cannes Film Festival. He stated,
“For seven months, I think the most complicated or most frustrating thing was trying to know what George wanted me to do at any given minute so I could fully transmute his vision…I have to apologize to you [looking at Miller] because I got frustrated. There was no way that George could’ve explained what he could see in the sand when we were out there…I knew he was brilliant but I didn’t quite know how brilliant.”
The two have since buried the hatchet. Both Theron and Hardy have also spoken highly of each other after the shoot wrapped up. Well, it looks like filming such an intense action flick took a toll on everyone!
You can rent or buy Mad Max: Fury Road on Prime Video or stream it on Philo.
Source: Twitter | Kyle Buchanan
